The Power of Repetition
There is a rabbinic saying about discipleship.
One who repeats his lesson a hundred times is not like him who repeats it a hundred and one times.
Chaggigah 9b
We seldom speak about the power of repetition in discipleship in my experience. I have been reminded of the importance of this simple truth several times recently. A few days ago, I was driving to preach at a church and had my daughter riding along with me. I was scanning the radio and a song from the 90s was playing. I recognized the tune and so I stopped in order to sing along and make my daughter groan a bit. I quickly realized I couldn’t remember very many of the words despite knowing that I had heard that song a bunch years ago. I was sure I knew some of the lyrics but nothing sounded right.
Until the last verse played. Suddenly, I knew every single word. Then they repeated the verse again.
And again.
And again one last time for good measure.
I realized why I knew all the words to one verse of the song and couldn’t remember any of the others. I had heard that one set of words a whole lot more than the rest.
This is absolutely true in our studies as disciples. The things that we repeat will be the things that we remember and live out in our everyday lives. Let’s remember this lesson and repeat it often. Make repetition a part of your plan for discipleship and your rhythm of personal discipleship.